The Houston Rockets are coming into the season with championship expectations and after completing an international tour that had a stop in Jeremy Lin's homeland in Taiwan, the team is ready to return to finish the preseason before the regular season begins.
The Rockets made the big move to sign Dwight Howard this offseason and now Jeremy Lin will have even more pressure on himself to deliver and play at a high level. The team feels it has the talent to make it to the championship with Howard, Lin, James Harden and Chandler Parsons and players like Omer Asik, Omri Casspi and Francisco Garcia will be key contributors to the club this season. Lin was a superstar on the trip, which included a game in Manila for the first even in the Philippines and then the Rockets played the Pacers in Taiwan in Taipei.
The Rockets ended up winning that game in Taiwan and that came after a 116-96 win over the Pacers in Manila. The two teams got to know each other well on the trip and it could be a potential NBA finals matchup, as the Pacers are coming into the season after pushing the Miami Heat to seven games in the east finals and they look better after trading for Luis Scola and re-signing David West to a new contract when he became a free agent.
Lin was the main attraction for fans on the trip since he was making the voyage to where his family comes from and he has become a more high profile player since his says breaking into the league with the Knicks, as he has been elevated to a worldwide star in Asia like former Rockets player Yao Ming, although it's a bit different since he is Chinese and Lin is from Taiwan. Lin ended up scoring 17 points in the win against the Pacers in Taiwan and James Harden was tops with 21 points for the Rockets.
Indiana got some solid play from Paul George and George Hill, but they couldn't get wins in either of the games against the Rockets and now they return home with high expectations as well. Kevin McHale has started using various sets during the preseason to prepare for different looks this season and according to ESPN.com, McHale has liked what Casspi has been doing off the bench and now that Marcus Camby is out, he could end up getting more minutes and he came through in the preseason game, as he had 13 points and nine rebounds in the game.
The Rockets have plenty of size and rebounding skills up front, as Howard and Omer Asik are the primary options with Casspi and the injured Camby coming behind as well. The Rockets are coming into the season after being ranked in the top 10 in scoring per game, rebounds and assists per game and the one area they need to improve is defense, as they ranked 28th in the league in points allowed per game with over 102 per contest.